Drugs and Beliefs

In Psychedelic Society, I was intrigued with McKenna's beliefs on beliefs themselves. He says, "A psychedelic society would abandon belief systems for direct experience. This is I think much of the problem of the modern dilemma: direct experience has been discounted, and in its place all kinds of belief systems have been erected." This really goes along well with what my group pegged as the theme of Huxley's book, really living in the moment. McKenna claims that our beliefs are the very reason we don't live in the moment.  He calls belief a "self-limiting function."

And when I think about it, I suppose belief is a self-limiting function. By believing one thing, you probably don't believe the opposite. For example, as in Pearce Ch. 6, if you believe fire burns, it's absolutely incredible to think that people can walk across fire and be unharmed. I was intrigued by this fire-burning chapter, because walking across fire seems an impossible feat and yet many do it and aren't harmed in the least. Pearce talks about people witnessing these fire-walking ceremonies and still not believing it. I guess  a strong set of beliefs can cause us to completely disregard the incredible, even if we have tangible evidence or have seen it ourselves.

Also sticking with the living in the moment theme, McKenna says, "We must transcend the historical movement and become exemplars of humanity at the End of Time." I believe McKenna doesn't mean the End of Time like the end of the world but rather very literally the end of time. What I got from this statement was that we either live in the past, constantly attempting to learn from it, or we live in the future, always striving toward something not there yet, but we never live in the present. We never just "are", which is what I think Huxley challenged in his book.

McKenna talked about ridding ourselves of our beliefs so we are not inhibited by them. I thought about this as I read Law Enforcement Against Entheogens and when Sterling discussed religious tolerance I got a very visual image. I thought that maybe we need to get rid of our beliefs to make room for more and I imagined tapping the side of my head and having my beliefs fall out so that I could put more ideas in and form new beliefs. And although not quite so literally, I think that's what I do. My views of the world are always changing and especially as I struggle with my religious affiliations, I'm constantly revising my beliefs. In high school, I used to believe Jesus was the only way to Heaven and I was strongly convicted in that belief, but over the years, I've revised my belief to simply say that I don't know the way to Heaven. 

I compare the revision of beliefs to the Constitution of the United States. We base our laws, court decisions, everything on the Constitution today, but according to Gore Vidal in Inventing A Nation, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams only pushed for the ratification of the Constitution with the hopes that they would later have the chance to improve it. My professor compared it to a student handing in a paper knowing it's not great, but hoping it will get an average grade. Jefferson and Adams knew a federal government was needed and the Articles just weren't doing it, so they supported the Constitution. And Benjamin Franklin supported the Constitution much for the same reason, but he was also very vocal about its faults. He in fact predicted the government corruption that exists in Washington today. Now we base everything on a half-assed development of our Founding Fathers, at least according to my interpretation of Vidal's book. But we make amendments as necessary and make new laws and overturn those new laws as necessary, because society and culture is constantly changing and to keep up, law must in turn change. 

As McKenna says, "Our fundamental ontological conceptions of reality have to be remade." According to McKenna, to become a psychedelic society, we not only have to discard our belief systems, but was also have to redefine reality. Or maybe we should just get rid of a definition of reality. Discard the belief system that causes us to require a definition for everything. 

I feel quite confident a psychedelic society as McKenna describes will never happen. Why? I think Pearce sums it up when he says in Ch. 6, "We are so heavily committed to our constructs that any suggestion of their relativeness fills us with anxiety." And at least in our society, anxiety is bad, change causes anxiety, so change must be bad. After all, isn't that why psychiatrist prescribe lorazepam and diazepam? I'm not saying anxiety is good, I'm just saying that certain levels of anxiety probably weren't meant to be doused with Valium.

Keeping in line with beliefs, Pearce says in Ch. 5, "Data can be found to bolster the conviction. The desire for conviction can produce its own data," which makes me think of Santa and the fly agaric mushrooms. As a class, we pretty much agreed that a lot of his supporting evidence was quite a stretch. Bursenos so believed that Santa was connected to the mushrooms that he forced his data to fit. I've certainly done this in the aforementioned half-assed papers and I think is an interesting not to end on that a belief can be so persuasive in our lives.

Our beliefs undoubtedly shape who we are and what we do, but do they close us off to the rest of the world?

Electronic reserve and pearce 5 and 6

Pearce 6: I can not go with this idea at all. This does not make any sense. How can you put a pot of boiling water on your head and not move an ince. The pot is scorching hot. I dont think i can believe in the whole Mohotty thing. They have 100 percent faith in their gods.......but no food or water, that is ridiculous. How is someone to live to worship these gods when they can not participate in the things neccessary to survive. I cant really agree or relate on this. Look forward to learning more though.

Pearce 5: In chapter 5, it says that a mans way of thinking is how their universe is ran. They only see what they want to see. Some men think they are always right based off of only what they know. I feel that people will never actually be able to determine how ones universe is supposed to be. There is an infinite amount of ways to do virtually anything so it will continue to be unknown.

Psychedelic: I really do not see the big deal about psychedelic drugs. It is ones responsibility to take them or not. If one person is high, it will seldomly affect someone else. I do not think these drugs should be illegal. Alcohol is legal and kills many people a year due to drunk driving. I would rater see alcohol be illegal before these drugs. Before people are so quick to judge, they should try these drugs, if not.....leave it alone!

Drugs and religion and art

I found Psychedelic Society an interesting perspective on the world as a whole, and it tied in quite nicely with the conversation on language we began in class last Thursday. Terence McKenna was very adamant about breaking down language barriers, not in the sense of learning the same language, but to disregard language completely because the use of a spoken or written language convoluted the message. In a sense, his approach is very similar to what Huxley said about the painting of the chair; the painting is just a symbol of the chair, the artist's interpretation, and it will be interpreted by each and every viewer, and that painting will never be anything but a shadowy reflection of that chair.
Another thing I found interesting about McKenna's article was his belief that the Internet as a communication device is a feminine approach, not in an insulting sense, but that it is softer and more humanistic than the cold calculation of a more masculine engineering approach. With very little background knowledge myself, I seem to remember hearing that societies were begun as matriarchal (ie, Mother Earth) before organized religions became the power players and the societies became patriarchal. Is it possible that we are, in a sense, reverting again to a matriarchal society? If we feel that the masculine engineering approach was not effective, and if we feel that the more humanistic approach of communicating directly for each individual situation might be worth an attempt, then it sounds as if we are bringing the past full circle.
Sterling's opinions on religious persecution are understandable, but at the same time, I think it is easy to understand why law enforcement officials would use a blanket law. After all, it is far easier to persecute everyone who is using a certain substance that it is to determine who is using which substance for private use versus religious means. I do agree, as Sterling mentioned near the end of the article, that a more specific law to do just that would be the best option if lawmakers are going to insist on naming the drugs illegal.
On the other hand, illegal is illegal. Religious ceremony or not, is it fair to say that a drug is legal for one person but not for another? Sterling used the example of virgin sacrifice; he mentions that those leaders would be charged with murder, but so then would any citizen who murdered a virgin. He used a blanket example in his attempt to advocate favoritism. From what we learned in class -- that the natural substances are not physically harmful, that they are not addictive, that they are useful for altered experiences -- I do believe that the use of these drugs should be legal, but I would take it one step further than Sterling and say that they should be legal for all if for some.

Pearce (Chapter 5 and 6) & Electronic Reserves

Chapter 5
I think it is fascinating to think of our minds as a reflection of nature. Also, it's wild to think that there are so many things going on within each of our heads. Yet, we are like grains of sand on a beach in comparison to the entire world. We are even more minuscule when compared to the entire universe. Nevertheless, all things are tied together in a kind of cosmic symphony. It's nice to be a part of something greater, isn't it?
Chapter 6
The thing that stood out to me in Chapter 6 (besides all of the fire walking) was Voodoo. I believe in the power of Voodoo, not because I think that poking a little doll will actually make someone feel bad, but I believe in the power of suggestion. I believe Voodoo is very similar to the power of nocebos— the opposite of placebos. If a doctor tells his or her healthy patient that he or she is sick, the patient begins to manifest symptoms. In the most extreme cases, the patient is told that he or she has only 6 months to live and the patient dies. Voodoo is no different, but it requires strong belief from the victim to work. I find this quite fascinating. It illustrates the power of the human mind and the power of suggestion.
Law Enforcement
For the last six years, I have specialized in self defense instruction for law enforcement, military and special interest groups. I have trained members of the Carlisle Police Department, State Police, and Dickinson College Campus Police on a long term basis. I started focusing on members of law enforcement when I was an assistant instructor at one of the largest self defense schools in Pennsylvania. Eventually people started requesting me to teach them privately. That's how I became a private instructor. Anyway, on to Law Enforcement Against Entheogens.
Quite honestly, I despise drugs in all its forms. But the War on Drugs makes me sick. If this weren't an online forum/blog I would have a lot to say about the War on Drugs... and how much of a sham it is. From Bill Clinton and Barry Seal in Mean Arkansas to the Opium fields in Afghanistan... there is so much more to the story. Though, I think it is important to note that there are very honorable agents, with very honorable motives, who work for the DEA, FBI, BATF, and other agencies. They work tirelessly to get drugs off our streets... Unfortunately, their attempts are futile. While they work, a sea of drugs (and guns) is trucked, boated and flown in by money hungry individuals who could care less about the United States.
Okay, so now that I am done with my rant, lets focus on the focus on the reading... entheogens. The bottom line: no one should be persecuted for any reason, especially if they're not hurting anyone else. Yes, the Christian Missionaries were committing religious persecution... much as they have done throughout history. If Law Enforcement agents are putting people in jail for entheogen use, they should be ashamed of themselves, even if it's in the job description.
From my experience, most of the law enforcement people I have met or trained think busting people for hallucinogens and marijuana is a waste of time, especially if the "offenders" are not driving or putting anyone else's life in danger. There are far many more important crimes to worry about.
Psychedelic Society
The first page of this reading ties in with Pearce's rant about science. It seems that every civilization believes that they have figured out the cosmos.
When Pearce wrote, "Men get their egos tied up with their theories and their facts and fight one another for intellectual self-preservation." Maybe the same can be applied to societies. Perhaps civilizations have a collective egos. It's an ego that is wrapped up in the societies religion and experience. But in the end, it all comes down to a need for self-preservation. I suppose the question I am wrestling with in my own head is, are we wrong?
It is funny to think how scientific theories are produced, or better yet, how policies are established. It's even funnier (and sad) to see how quickly these theories can be undone. The real question is, who gets persecuted in the process?
This text, Psychedelic Society made a lot of sense. I agree, we are hindered by our own ideology. With the technology we have available to us, we have a rare opportunity to transcend that old way of thinking. We can come together, and launch ourselves into a new age of reason. Unfortunately, very few would go along with it willingly. I guess that is where mind control comes in. Change public perception and attitudes to such a degree that a universal change can take place.
The Internet, though it is an artificial form of unconscious, might be vital in the transformation process. For the first time in known history, the world is connected. We must take advantage of this. A new world order might be closer than we think.

Blog number seven

Pearce Chapters 5&6

I like how this book is very philosophical. I also like how chapter 5 started with talking about science. Science is very important and definitely reveals the truth to many things in life. This book is filled with infinitely amazing quotes. Things that make you think and rethink. I like it a lot. I can feel my brain.Even if Pearce is using other people’s quotes to get his point across… the material he’s quoting is good stuff.

For instance, “Sir Cyril Hinshelwood spoke of science as a creative art, ‘joining hands with all human endeavors, learning by its mistakes.’” As well as referencing Singer in terms of him writing about the processes of the mind and how it seemed to reflect nature. “He felt that our minds were as much the products of evolution as were our bodies, an idea both Jung and Teilhard developed.”

I think about Darwin and Natural Selection. How the heritable favorable traits remain present for survival where the unfavorable inheritable traits become less common. I certainly believe we adapt to our environments. If biological adaptations occur then psychological ones must occur as well.
Another smart statement by Popper, “Every scientific statement must remain tentative forever.” I’m a firm believe that anything can happen and everything is subject to change. Nothing is definite. Nothing is solid or forever, neither can science. I think we can only be 99.9% sure of anything in this life.

“The scientific audience is won over to a new system by intellectual sympathy. A hostile audience may deliberately refuse to entertain novel conceptions for fear of being led to conclusions they abhor, rightly or wrongly.” That is well put. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And for the fire walkers… yeah, I can see how these people walked across a bed of deep charcoal that produced the perfect conditions for fire walking. I’d be delirious too if for three months I was forced to remain abstinent, vegiterian, drinking only water, with constant sprinklings of holy water with continual religious instruction and prayer as well as meditating and communicating with god. Oh yes, and the rhythmic drums to produce a hypnotic like state, can’t forget that. I also think it’s kind of funny that of 80 people walking, 12 failed. I wonder what it would look like to watch someone fail at that. Yikes.
Really, fire walking is a mind over matter kind of deal.

Psychedelic Society

I like the point made “if you believe something, you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite; which means that a degree of your human freedom has been forfeited in the act of committing yourself to this belief.” I see so many people struggle with this.
On page 59, I really enjoy how he talks about getting rid of the concepts from previous decades and that we must transcend the historical moment and basically demonstrate humanity at the end of time. I also agree that the change that occurred biologically long ago is now operating in our culture. This text was also filled with good quotes. I think the Psychedelic society is more interesting and in depth than what’s first assumed.

Law Enforcement Against Entheogens: Is It Religious Persecution?

It really isn’t a question of religious persecution when Christian Missionaries were involved in the suppression of Peyote. If it’s used for religious purposes and not abused for the reasons as to why it’s banned in the first place, perhaps those who don’t understand the religious practices should butt out.
It’s just ignorant of the westerners to treat peyote the way it’s treated. I got annoyed reading this article a little.

Whatever the government deems “illegal” is banned yet pharmaceutical companies produce how many drugs with how many absurd side effects where some result in death? Chris Rock sums up the way the government acts towards drugs in his stand up from Never Scared in 2004 perfectly. He makes some valid points... Watch the clip!

Beware, this video contains some profanity.

Mystery of Being

In the article Psychedelic Society one of the initial points made by McKenna is the idea that “our beliefs have grown obsolete and should be put aside.” I first thought well that’s silly and I decided to look up the definition of belief. Merriam-Webster dictionary says that belief is 1: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing. After reflecting on this, I concluded that McKenna may be on to something… It is not that we shouldn’t believe in something, but we need to consider varying points of view so we are not hindered by our ideology.

Further on in the article he talks about the “ontological conceptions of reality and the notion that they have to be remade.” My question is “Who decides?” Society can agree on very few things, how could we decide on a new order of reality? As I continued to read, McKenna’s statement became clearer the idea that we should take responsibility of ourselves and actions seemed to be the underlying message. . Each one of us needs to let go of the thoughts and ideas that may be holding us captive to a particular ideologies.

As we, within ourselves, begin to reconstruct our thoughts, we need to consider science (the state of knowing). McKenna writes “Science can be demolished in thirty seconds.” This may be true however; I believe that science and experience are both necessary elements to transform ourselves. McKenna further describes that no transformation of society can be done without psychedelics – Really?

Bad Boys – Bad Boys

I really enjoyed the Law Enforcement article! Because of the infiltration of man-made drugs into our society I think it has forced the hand of lawmakers and drug officials. I am not saying that is right or wrong, I am on the fence. Sterling reverences that our religious tolerance is often limited - I agree. That is true of all religions. We can’t have society member sacrificing people in mall parking lots but, faiths should have the freedom to practice even if that involves entheogens. However, the no one would agree where to draw the line. People would, as some do now, use religion to contrive some twisted form of worship in order to have experience an altered state.

Yikes that’s hot!

Both articles and the Pearce reading discuss the voyage of discovery. Pearce said that “every scientific statement must remain tentative forever.” I agree, but we need a starting point in order to continue on our voyage of discovery.

I loved the story about the discovery of the planet Neptune and Bodes’s Law of 1772 – how cool is that?
I think it is a positive step that we are looking for cracks in “truths” only then will we grow and learn the meaningful patterns in reality.

The concept of fire walking a fascinating! Why are some individuals unharmed and others brought to the cusp of death and others cruise through the fire unscathed? Much like Pearce, I must believe in fire walking because I cannot reason it out. . .

Week 8

Psychedelic Society

Notions like those expressed by Terence McKenna exemplify wishful thinking, and involve concepts that only have their place in the hypothetical. While the end of McKenna's ideal is noteworthy, his means for accomplishing it are not. He states quite conclusively that "No reconstruction of society can be done without psychedelics because we have drifted so long without them (McKenna 63)." I don't think the premise of his argument warrants such an extreme conclusion. Also, his remarks that "Whether you buy into my own peculiar, apocalyptarian transformative vision involving 2012, or whether you can just tell by looking around you that shit may soon hit the fan...(McKenna 62)", really gave me pause. If McKenna seriously subscribes to the belief that either the world will end in 2012 or a large scale spiritual revivalism must take place, then I wish to detract the slightly complimentary words I used earlier.

Entheogens and Law Enforcement

Sterling's claim that American laws prohibiting the possession or use of psychedelic drugs is religious persecution is preposterous. Furthermore, his assertion that the nature of the oppressive legislation (and its enforcement thereof) against entheogens in contemporary America parallels that of the Spanish Inquisition or is comparable to the persecution of Pilgrims in the 17 Century is outright laughable.


In Employment Division v. Smith two gentlemen, one Native American and one white man, were randomly drug tested at their work ( a drug rehabilitation clinic) and subsequently fired for the trace amount of drugs in their system. The two men, who acknowledged that the ingestion of psychedelic drugs was illegal in the state of Oregon, proceeded to file for unemployment compensation. However, more relevantly, Sterling seems to omit that Oregon's Appellate and Supreme Court ruled in Smith's favor, acknowledging the Free Exercise Clause infringement, until the Supreme Court finally overturned their ruling. Also, the state of Oregon did not file criminal charges against these gentlemen during or after the ruling. Moreover, a recent case, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal 546 U.S. 418 (2006), upheld the religious right of a branch of a Brazilian church to ingest Hoasca, a psychedelic tea, falling back on their prior "compelling interest" criteria established in Sherbert v. Verner in 1963. It is interesting to note that the hallucinogenic properties in Hoasca, the sacramental tea used in the UDV religious practices, happens to be listed under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. In this case, however, the State failed to establish a "compelling interest" in disallowing the substance from being used for religious purposes, therefore, the UDV were granted the right to take Hoasca.

Electronic Reserve; Pearce Chapters 5 and 6

Psychedelic Society

I thought it was interesting that the author mentioned that it was pointless to have beliefs. I guess I am blinded because I like having a belief system, rather than a direct experience. I don't think there is anything wrong with our society or our scientific approaches. McKenna wrote, "Our ability to destroy ourselves is the mirror image of our ability to save ourselves." I think that is a little risky, especially because I think everything is perfectly fine the way it is. Yes humans do act somewhat like machines, but why is that bad? Each person is unique and views the world differently, but isn't that individual uniqueness similar to a personal direct psychedelic experience? Everyone has his or her own experience and reality, and the ideas are always changing from person to person. What is the point of pschedelics?

Law Enforcement

I do not think that drugs, such as entheogens, that are used for religious purposes should be illegal. In fact, I don't think any drugs should be made illegal, unless they are extremely harmful to a person. I think when drugs are made illegal, then people are more curious, and thrive on doing them. This article seems to show that not all drugs are harmful. I don't think society should make everything illegal, for the simple fact that they are trying to protect everyone.

Pearce Chapter 5

It is interesting that this chapter says that a man's mind is a mirror of the universe. I guess it shows that each person sees themselves and the universe differently. A lot of people are wrong, but they don't want to admit that they are wrong. Science is the explanation of the universe, but often the theories are wrong. For example, people once believed that the earth was flat. Now we believe it is round. Will it be square some day? I feel humans are a long way away from having definite truths and laws about the whole universe. Also, David Bohm believes, "...that all things are interconnected and influenced by contingencies with all other things, traceable to so remote an interrelation that they may be considered chance for all practical purposes." I'm not sure I completely understand this quote, but I do believe that everything is interconnected. I feel like understanding the universe is like trying to put together a puzzle, with an infinite number of pieces.

Pearce Chapter 6

Well this is crazy. I don't understand how a woman could carry a red-hot pot on her head and not show any signs of scorching. I can't believe the whole story of Mohotty. I mean it just seems impossible, to me. He had total faith in his gods? I never had a religious experience, but I still don't understand how it could be that powerful. This Mohotty does not sound human. No drink or drugs??? I believe in mind over body, but only to a certain extent. I don't even know what else to say. This whole idea is mind boggling to me.

Try as I might, I can't really link all of this together. In reading "Psychedelic Society", McKenna states that we can't have a society go this long without psychedelics, that they are necessary to having meaning and direction. He tells us that we need to embrace direct experience, which is what a psychedelic would do. Well, I can kind of see his point in that, but do we really need psychedelics to experience the world? I don't know. How do I know that the world experienced while on a psychedelic is the "real thing"? It might just be a different thing, not more or less real, or more or less right. I have to question an article from a guy who (I'm guessing, based on his allusion) believes there will be an apocalyptic event in 2012. I can't remember the details of that cult, but I do remember thinking that they were a whacked out bunch.

In "Law Enforcement Against Entheogens", I can, for the most part, see Sterling's point. If a nature is producing something, and a group of people is using it basically as-is for religious purposes only, it seems as though making it legal ought not to be an issue. Making it illegal only entices people to want to use it. If it were legal, and used only in the intended setting, we (not 'we' as a whole, but 'we' as in our class) probably wouldn't even know about it. At the beginning of the article, though, he lumped LSD in with the peyote and the mushrooms. LSD is not a naturally occuring substance in nature, so I don't think it should be considered in this light. Again, though, I am not one who thinks that we need drugs, natural or synthesized, to have religion, but that's mostly because the religion to which I subscribe doesn't require that of me.

Pearce's chapters were chock-full of stuff. Lots of it went over my head, hit the wall, and slid down into a pile. I'm going through said pile, looking for meaning. He starts off by referencing Eddington, saying, "He felt that man's mind must be made a 'mirror of the universe'." (p.81) He talks a lot about how everything that there is to be known already exists, but we have to go about finding it. Pearce says, "...recognize that man's mind is a mirror of a universe that mirror's man's mind." (p. 82) That seems like it ought to be a really great point, but I struggle with truly grasping it. Is it that we observe the universe around us, but we shape that view of the universe simply by our observation and our thoughts about it? I do like how he talks about science actually being born out of religion, and the thinking that God is rational so we can rationalize everything in His creation. How funny, considering the fact that science and religion have been at odds for centuries, and it will get worse before it gets better.

Pearce talks about how things are only true because people believe them to be true. He talks about how egotistical and arrogant scientists can be regarding their theories, but they have to be that way, or no one would ever believe them. They need belief in their theories in order for their theories to really exist. He also talks about Max Planck, who wrote that when an experiment produced results that were contradictory to what the experimenter theorized, it wasn't a bad thing. Rather, it allowed the experimenter to fine-tune his theory. (p.96) He went on to discuss how we thought that quasars didn't exist, but then we found those. Then we thought that the energy from it was unsurpassed. Then, pulsars were discovered.

Pearce then talked about fire-walking, and how the people who practiced this did it. He spoke of their entry into what seemed like an altered state, and how they came through unharmed. He later referenced an Indian Fakir (p.106) who told a professor that all he had to do was hold his (the Fakir's) hand and he could cross the coals. They cited other examples where all it took was the belief that something COULD be done, for it TO be done. I wonder if I can believe that my blog WILL get written, and somehow that will make it so???? =)

4D minds, spiritual energies, and fire-walking...

Psychedelic Society - McKenna offers a 'to-the-point' description of what exactly he deems such a society to be: those which abandon their beliefs in order to allow the direct experience to guide and influence them. This makes sense - by discrediting everything, there cannot be any bias. Your belief can be renewed in what what this new perception grants. His suggestion of the mind being a fourth dimensional organ was interesting. Certainly we know we all have minds, but they are not something tangible. Because of this we might never fully know what its capabilities are or aren't. There are times during conscious or altered states where we are 'tuned in' and can appreciate the capacity of thoughts that emerge. I believe McKenna is trying to illustrate the importance of this tuning in and using our minds to their fullest extent without the 'extra baggage' that usually gets absorbed. He states, "half the time you think you are thinking you are actually listening; that ideas are remarkably slippery creatures that are very difficult to trace to their origin". (If I only had a dollar every time I lost my train of thought!) I thought his comments on language really touched what our class discussion revolved around last week; "We all create our own universe because we are all operating with our own private languages which are only very crudely translatable into any other person's language. How many times, just within this class in group discussions, have we found ourselves stuck trying to explain our thoughts - we know what we want to mean and are thinking, but have a difficult time construing it. If we are able to spit it out, sometimes it can be mistaken or interpreted quite differently than intended. Lastly for this read, McKenna states, "We can claim this higher level of freedom by the simple act of paying attention to being". If you would now ask me what the theme of Huxley's Doors is I'd repeat this quote.

Sterling's essay was interesting regarding the battle between religious practices and drug enforcement policies. I think that this controversy will continue to manifest itself - even though we are a country offering freedom, that freedom is certainly controlled. Worship who or what you want, just do it according to what the government dictates is safe and practical. In a humorous twist on this persecution of Native Americans' worship, Sterling suggests we acknowledge and learn from their teachings and practices as significant and historical much like we do to their Thanksgiving Day contributions. To segue this reading into Pearce's, Pearce makes the statement, "Laws there will be, and only the breaking of them will be through that crack-forming procedure". Peyote IS this culture's 'crack-forming procedure'.

Pearce's comment on how we perceive things reminded me yet again of Huxley. Pearce explains, "what a thing is is to an unknowable extent determined by or influenced by what we think it is". Much like Huxley's comment on our perceptions driven by "who influenced whom to say what when?". Are these biased perceptions what is being reflected on our mirrored minds? This ties in with Polanyi's metanoia; we are all, perhaps, given abilities to construct ideas and thoughts in unlimited ways, but because of interaction and networking with others' ideas and their thought processes, are own personal thought processes are hindered. It's almost as if when presented with a new idea by someone else, we are unknowingly adorned with blinders that confine our ability to perceive that same thought in a new way. (This makes more sense in my head than what it does typed out onto this keyboard, so my apologies if this makes no sense!) As for the fire-walking and hook-hanging, it was interesting to learn that once it was found that people who participated in such events could not only survive these but sometimes come away unharmed there was a new acceptance and notion of 'reality-potential' and such practices continued and grew. I can't help to think (in my westernized mind that is full of bias, blinders, and skepticism) that such dangerous practices that could potentially result in severe injury or death would receive such receptive audience participation simply because there were a few incidences that left the participants unscathed....what about the several others who WERE injured, disfigured or died?

Law Enforcement, Psyc. Societies

Law Enforcement Against Entheogens

This is a tough one, because I understand what the author is saying, that there are certain ways to change our bodies chemistry to allow for a devine expierence that involve crugs. It is crappy that the drugs used souly for religious purposes were outlawed along with the drugs that people used for fixes and are addictive. At the same time, though, they do have to make all mind altering drugs illegal because anyone could use the excuse that it is for religion(even when they are just doing it to get high.) Drugs have a lot of bad affects on our society.. "Having seen the guns of crack dealers, the skid rows where the junkies shuffle, the hospitals where inconsolable babies cry..." Unfortunately, the religious leaders who were using peyote as a means in thier ceremonies, have to be affected, because it is a mind altering drug. I am sure that everyone who uses peyote is not doing it for religious purposes...and then how do you define a religious purpose? I am sure someone desperate enough could make somthing up.



Psycodelic Societies
The statement, "When you believe something, you automatically preclude yourself from believing its opposite; which means that a degree of your human freedom has been forfeitedin in the act of committing yourself to this belief." This is pretty good..it has a huge point. Also..I agree that no reconstruction of scoeity can be done with the use of psycadelics because we have gone so long witout them. My generation has been raised(for the most part) to believe that 'drugs are bad' there is no gray area.

Huxley

Huxley: The Doors of Perception
What a hek of a read. It took me a week to try to finish this book and do this blog. I didn't particularly like it because it was too hard to follow. I don't understand this drug. Where was this author heading with this drug mescalin and what is so special about it. To me he was just blabbing on about nothing substiantial. Probably the worst reading yet. He completely lost me.What does he mean by such quote that "each person is capable of remembering all that has happened to him and of percieving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe"?

Psychedelic Society/ Law Enforcement

Psychedelic
I would have to agree with McKenna when he states, " Our ability to destroy ourselves is the mirror image of our ability to save ourselves." Because, the shamans as he describes use psychedelic drugs to help them guide themselves to the truth, and finding the truth sometime comes with harming yourself (by doing drugs) to find the state of mind you seek. I think that the "new language" he describes is the truth one will find in a psychedelic stage. I must agree with this statement, " The salvation of your immortal soul may depend on what you do with the opportunity life places before you." I believe this because you have the right to salvation through God, you have the choice to live by God and be rewarded in Heaven or go against God, and remain in hell. I believe we create our own universe because each one of use is unique in our own ways and has the power to do what we want.

Law Enforcement
I think this passage has great inspiration for the Native American Indian/ Church. They discussed that Peyote was being used in an un mannorly way to help people find the peace and security that they seeked through their religion. I think that if your religion has you worshiping through these psychedelic drugs then by all means you must use them but do not abuse them to the extent of death. I am not permitting the useage of drugs but each culture is its own culture. I do believe that if you are not of these groups and just join them to be able to use the drugs because their religion its allowed to is un called for.

The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell

Yikes...
I had been under the impression that this book would document the experiences of an intelligent mind under the effects of mescalin. Instead it seemed to spiral into an abstract breakdown of reality in which points of view and experiences were supported with notions of "is-ness", something referred to as a "not-I", the "Mind at Large" and "the All in every This". The further I read, the farther away from understanding I ended up. In truth, I was barely able to finish the reading because I was not able to relate to what Huxley was trying to say. I understood certain aspects of the writing, such as the drugs effect on the perceptions of color, space and time, but overall, the idea that the "effects of a cerebral sugar shortage" (page 28) exposed a new universe of understanding...of BEING, was lost on me (personally).

Hughes and Walsh

Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Hughes and Walsh
This whole chapter along with Walsh had me thinking. These Shamans supposedly were one with themself and had underlying powers. I dont believe in this kind of stuff because i also dont believe in powers or other out of body experiences. In the chapter from Hughes, it said that the Shamans could dream while they are in a conscious state. How is that possible? Now i have heard of day dreaming but to be completely out of it while still being concscious is a little far fetched for me to even consider about! They also talk about the fact that the Shamans will port out to another "world". That sounds like some nonsense to me. Now i have heard of going into shock but not just going into a new state of consciousness.

Walsh's chapters also had me thinking. He comes up with alot of myths about shamanism that maybe with time i could believe in. I am very optimistic and open to experiencing new things and this would defiently be one of those instances. I feel that after i learn more and more about the subject, i will be able to believe in it a little more than i do now. Good reading though! : )
Posted by Kapone at 8:17 AM

Cosmic Egg

Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cosmic Egg
Reality? What is it viewed as in today's society. It is a funny thing. This was a very interesting reading. It had me thinking for a little bit. At first i was confused due to the weird nature of the title but then things began to get more clear. Pearce offered good explanation on the lack of thinking people actually do. We tend to only think about things that are relatively important. We tend to lose sight on things that will go down in the future. I can't even lie. I do that all the time! I tell myself that i will keep in mind all things i have to do but for the most part, i just worry about the things most important to me determined by date. On the other hand, it is good to just prioritize what you think about. A person can only handle thinking about so much at one time. I know it would be even harder for children due to the fact that they already have a whole lot to think about.

Personally, I think that this book might be really interesting. I like how he said that autistic individuals are not the ones missing things, it is the normal people. I agree with him. I worked with autistic children over the summer and they most defiantly are creative. They have ways to think and do things that normal people would not regularly do. All you have to do is give them time.

Weird movie with a whole lot of reading!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Weird movie with a whole lot of reading!
Hughes 4:
Yet again.........another long and interesting read. They brought up alot of interesting thoughts about dreams and how the brain constructs them. The brain has a whole lot of CREATIVITY. (Had to put in caps since it has been so stressed.) The brain has people thinking about a whole lot of interesting things and/or ideas. Near death experiences do bring back memories. I say this because in 2006, i was shot at in one of the neighborhoods. It was like i blacked out to another world. When i came back to sense, i was in an alley. I had ran 3 blocks without even realizing it. This just shows what near death experiences can offer. I look forward to reading more of this work.

Pearce 4:
Blake began to say that all people can not properly utilize their mind and i agree with him 110% on that. I feel that some people do not allow themself to do so. Some people are so straight edge or precise, that they do not allow themselves to think out of the ordinary. I on the other hand love to think out of the box. I dont like to be like others. I do on the other hand like like-minded people and people who think like me. Something i didnt agree with was the hypnotizing. Im not buying it for a second. I find it hard to believe that one person can control someone else through hypnosis. I think it would have to be done on me before i could believe something as far fetched as that.

Movie:
Man o man did that movie have me thinking. I kept trying to figure out why people would take something that would immediately make them sick. I know that you have to do whats cultural but there has got to be a line drawn. That movie was wild. The people had interesting lifestyles to say the least. The Shaman culture sure is special.

Mr. Aldous Huxley

Huxley's essays were full of valuable insights. In fact, there were several parts of the Doors of Perception that I found fairly fascinating. Huxley the "sleuth", disclosed his own personal experiences with inebriation. In the beginning of Doors of Perception, Huxley mentions his decision to swallow four-tenths of a gram of mescaline dissolved in a glass of water. It was in this part of the essay, that Huxley made note of the problem with our experiences. He writes, "Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies— all these are private and except through symbols and at a second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves." Yes.

Talking about experiences... In the last class, a female student said that she and her father came to the conclusion that life is about experiences. I believe this.

I remember years ago thinking about the purpose of life. Sure, life might have NO PURPOSE at all, BUT I find this hard to believe.

I believe life is to be lived to experience. To experience is so much different from a lot of other beliefs. Even if a moment is bad, disastrous, it is another experience to be absorbed.

In the next sentence, Huxley writes, "From family to nation, every human group of society is a society of island universes." This is a powerful statement. It makes a lot of sense. At times I think I about my friends. We are so much different from most people. As the years have passed, we seem to have become one person... a lot like a family unit. My family isn't much different.

I know this was just a small part of a larger idea, but it's just some things I have been thinking about recently.

Later in the essay, Huxley writes about the condition of the human being. He says that the mind and nervous system literally filter out anything that is not useful for survival. I raised this point a couple of blogs ago. I first read of this philosophy in a Kabbalist text. Huxley writes, "To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us stay alive on the surface of this particular planet."

In Heaven and Hell, Huxley writes that not just spiritual, but religious insight can be gained through drugs. Surely this section will offend some, but after doing my own research for the Analysis Paper I can see where he is coming from. One of the topics that I proposed in my analysis paper was the story of the Moses on Mount Sinai. There is lots of compelling evidence to suggest that Moses was a shaman, disseminating messages from the divine with the aid of mushrooms. Really at this point, anything is possible.

Hughes, walsh, and santa

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hughes, walsh, and santa
Hughes:
Interesting to say the least. I refuse to sit here and admit to taking drugs but lets just say it enables you to think outside the box. Some of the greatest writers and artists have been linked to many different drugs including Edgar Allen Poe. Now don't get me wrong, i know enough creative people who do not look towards drugs for creativity. I feel that the people who do use drugs just use them for their own sake. Im sure Poe didn't need the opium for his creativity. He just probaly used them for his own recreational purposes. Someone can not look at him as a bad person just because his drug use. Nothing negative came from it so everything should be ok.

Walsh:
I found this a little far fetched but then again i do agree. Once again, i do believe in the altered states. Like i have said in previous weeks, i believe there is another atate of consciousness. I believe that it is ypur choice if you want to visit this place or not. You have to be up for change and something different.

Fat man in the red suit:
This was an intresting read. Im confused on how santa clause was compared to the little mushroom. I felt that this was really odd. I didnt like this reading because it was not interesting to me. The author needs to sit down and evaluate himself. He needs to ask himself........"What am i talking about?

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I feel like Huxley wanted more than anything for the people reading these essays to “Get A Clue!” I don’t think what was written has to be applicable to our lives, but I do think it should make us wake up a little in the day to day. He said in reference to the books “The mind was primarily concerned, not with measures and location but with being and meaning.” I find that so pivotal in a mindset, seeing as many of us are not concerned with being or meaning whatsoever. I was walking behind a girl today and she was telling her friend that she was on the way to a yoga class. The friend said, “Oh, that’s cool. How did you get involved in that?” and the girl replied “It’s for ten extra credit points. I don’t really want to go.” I know I am no aficionado of Yoga, but I do know it has/had significance. On the Wiki yoga page it states, “Yoga is an Indian spiritual path aimed at achieving the union with the Supreme Consciousness.” Now when supreme consciousness can be traded for ten extra credit points, I think a problem is starting to form. We have had so many distractions and variables placed in our lives we could care less about the meaning and being of most anything we do.


Huxley goes on to talk about how cigarettes are bad for us and that they are linked to lung cancer. (Where was he when Big Tobacco sprung up!?!) Anyway, he points out how “practically everybody regards tobacco smoking as being hardly less normal and natural than eating. From the point of view of the rationalist utilitarian this may seem odd. For the historian, it is exactly what you would expect.” More implicit than “hindsight is 20/20”, we as a species seem to be aware of our downfalls but we write them off to happenstance. Everyone thinks, “It’s not going to be me,” and continues on in blind oblivion, never minding the descent until they hit the ground. Perception is so important to our consciousness and once we are aware of something, it shouldn’t be dismissed. Likewise, perception is such an explorative creature, and there is so much to be garnered from a new point of view.


As far as Heaven and Hell, I loved where Huxley said “for primeval Nature bears a strange resemblance to that inner world where no account is taken of our personal wishes or even of the enduring concerns of man in general.” I think this idea of “go, go, go” to survive is an illusion and actually an allusion as well. We are not animals and are not in “danger” so to speak. These value systems are placed upon us by ourselves, and through our society. They have no inherent meaning other than to keep us contained and controlled.